Canadians Mandy Moran and Hailey Casper win bronze at diving Grand Prix

May 31th, 2009

Mandy Moran & Hailey Casper

MADRID – Mandy Moran of Thunder Bay, Ont., and Hailey Casper of Calgary won the bronze medal Sunday in the women’s three-metre synchro event to conclude the sixth stop on the FINA Grand Prix diving circuit.

Lin Qu and Qulin Zheng of China won the gold medal with 312.60 points. Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape of Italy were second at 300.90 followed by Moran and Casper at 270.27. It is a first career Grand Prix medal for both divers.

It was only the second time that Moran and Casper, both based at Dive Calgary, dove together in the three-metre synchro event.

‘’It went really well,” said Moran, 28, fourth on individual three-metre on Saturday. “Our synchronization was on but our individual dives could have been better. It’s great to get the medal. We have both been competing recently at different venues so we didn’t have the opportunity to train as much as we would have like for this event.”

Casper, 16, is one of Canada’s top junior divers. Her big goal is to compete this year at the Pan American junior championships September 10-13 in Calgary.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to compete in this event with Mandy,” said Casper. “She has a lot of international experience and she is someone I’ve always looked up to.”

On men’s 10-metre tower, Yanquang Zhang of China won the gold medal with 532.15 points. Olympic champion Matthew Mitcham of Australia was second at 525.40 and Jose Antonio Guerra of Cuba third at 524.80.

Kevin Geyson of Winnipeg advanced to the semifinal and placed seventh overall.

Canada ended the meet with three medals. On Friday, Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., was second on men’s three-metre while Pamela Ware and Carol-Ann Ware of Otterburn Park, Que., also won silver in women’s 10-metre synchro.

About the FINA Grand Prix
Held since 1995, the FINA Grand Prix is similar in format to the World Cups in alpine skiing and speed skating. This season there are five stops, including the Canada Cup from April 30-May 3 in Montreal, Quebec.

About Diving Plongeon Canada
Diving Plongeon Canada (DPC) was established in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to promote the growth and awareness of the sport in this country. As a member of FINA, the world’s governing body of aquatic sports, DPC contributes to the development of globally accepted standards of excellence in diving and supports the rules and regulations of international competition. Representing nine provincial diving associations, 67 local diving clubs and close to 4,000 high performance athletes, DPC shares a national commitment to advance the art and sport of diving and to position Canada as the number one diving nation of the world.  For information, visit www.diving.ca.

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